“They may be expecting that [their kids] may be doing some underage drinking, maybe trying marijuana,” she said before the meeting. “I wouldn’t call it denial. They just don’t know that it’s so readily available and its so inexpensive.”

Any slowdown in the pace of deaths appears to be evaporating.

In 2010, there were 60 heroin overdose deaths in St. Louis County. Captain Boschert said the latest number for this year is 55.